Front feed means for a paper carriage



Aug. 31, 1937. o. J. SUNDSTRAND 2,091,339

FRONT FEED MEANS FOR A PAPER CARRIAGE I Filed Nov. 25, 1933 IN V EN TOR.

'Q' Oscar JSumistrand f ATTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 31, 1937 FRONT FEED" MEANS FOR A PAPER CARRIAGE Oscar Joseph Sundstrand, Bridgeport, Conn., assignor to Underwood Elliott Fisher Company,

. New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application November 25,1933, Serial No. 699,647

11 Claims.

The present invention relates in general-1 to bookkeeping machines in which the paper is fed; from in front, and down past theplaten, and; more particularly to front feed means which; are swung from a paper-holding position against. the platen, to a paper-releasing position away from the platen.

In the paper-releasing position it sometimes happens that the front feed means tends to interfere with the printing operation as a consequence of which, were the printing means to be operated.

damage would possibly result. It is accordingly usual to. provide a motor bar lock, or other disabling means, to prevent a printing operation when the front feed means is in this paperreleasing position.

There are some bookkeeping operations however, in which it is desirable to retain one of a plurality of work pieces in the .machine for a second, and sometimes subsequent operations, as for example, a tally roll; the front feed means being moved to paper-releasing position at the conclusion of each working excursion of the paper carriage to permit removal of the remainder of the work pieces.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide means to automatically unlock the motor bar as an incident to movement of the carriage to position to print upon the retained work piece after the motor bar has been locked by movement of the front feed means to position to permit removal of the remainder of the work pieces.

Another object is to provide means for defeating the motor bar disabling function of thefront feed means in positions of the carriage corresponding with the printing position of the retained work piece.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description,

taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which;

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side view of a machine embodying a preferred form of the invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view with certain parts indicated in dot and dash lines;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of certain parts shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Some of these parts are broken away to shorten the views.

The preferred form of my invention is embodied in a Sundstrand machine of the general type disclosed in Patent No. 1,198,487, issued September .19, 1916, and more particularly like that of my application Serial No. 610,043, flied May 9, 1932, which issued as Patent No. 2,060,954, Nov.

17, 1936, though it will be understood that it may readily be adapted to other machines front feed means.

Referring to the drawing, a Sundstrand book:- keeping machine is diagrammatically indicatedv in dot and dash lines in Fig. 1, and includes av frame I, a laterally movable. paper carriage 2,, a. platen 3, rotatable in the carriage, and a group 01. type bars 4.

As shown in Fig. 3, a lever 5, pivotally mounted at 5a (Fig. 1) on the carriage 2 is adaptedv to swing in a counter-clockwise: direction under; the influence of a spring 6 connected to the lever at I. A flanged rail 8, is rigidly connected; to the lever 5, at 9, by means of upturned end lugs I formed integrally with. the rail. The rail 8 has a flange II arranged to co-act with a lug I2 projecting upwardly from a lever I3. The lever I3 is pivoted at It onthe frame I, and pivotally connected at I to the rear end of a motor lock lever IS. The front end of the motor lock lever has a pin and slot connection at IT with a rigid part of the frame I and terminates in a forwardly extending nose II. A spring I9 connected to the motor lock lever It at ill-tends to slide the nose I8 forwardly to underlie a lug 2I of a lock plate 22'. The lock plate 22 is slidably secured to a motor bar 25 by pin and slot arrangement 23, 24.

The lock plate 22, when lowered by depression of the motor bar, is effective to establish an electric circuit to a driving motor, (not shown) but it will be apparent that the movement of the motor bar 25 to make such circuit is not possible while the nose II of the motor lock lever I5 is under the lug 2| of the lock plate 22.

The front feed means is adapted to control the tendency of spring It to block motor bar 25. The front feed means includes, in this instance, a frame comprising a pair of side arms 28 mounted for pivotal movement on the carriage about an axis defined by a cross rod 3|. Displacement of the side arms from the pivotal axis is normally prevented by pins 32, fixed to the carriage in position to act against the lower rear edge of the arms to hold the latter in bearing engagement with the cross rod II. The free ends of side arms 28 are rigidly connected for unitary movement by means including tie rods 29 and 30.

Work pieces may be inserted in the carriage 'from the front of the machine, or from the left,

as viewed in Fig. 1, by rocking the side arms in a counter-clockwise direction to the paper-receiving position, as shown in the same view. Thereafter the side arms and their common bail are moved in a clockwise direction into position in which they cooperate to hold the work pieces in printing position.

Movement of the front feed means to printing position functions to move the locking nose rear- 5 wardly out of motor bar blocking position. As shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the right hand side arm 28 is provided with an arcuately shaped member 33, the remote end of which carries a laterally extending pin 34 arranged to contact the upwardly turned end 35 of the lever 5, and thus rock the latter in a clockwise direction against the action of spring 6. The clockwise movement of lever '5, as'will be apparent from the drawing, is communicated to the rail 8 and thus to lever l3 and 5 link Hi to withdraw the nose Hi from the path of lug 2|.

It will be understood from the above description that when the front feed means is moved to paper-releasing position, as shown in Fig. 1,

the pin 34 will be elevated from contact with the free end of arm 5 as a consequence of which the spring i9 will move lock lever l6 forwardly to block the motor bar.

In some forms of bookkeeping operations, a

' plurality of work pieces are simultaneously inserted in the machine and one or more of them, such for example as a tally roll, are retained for two or more machine operations, the remainder of the work pieces, such for example as ledger sheets,'being changed at the conclusion of every complete excursion of the carriage.

Although it is necessary to prevent operation of the machine while the frontfeed means is in its paper-receiving position with the carriage in that part of its range of movement which is identified with those sheets which are removed after every complete operation, it nonetheless is undesirable to limit the speed with which accounts may be handled by blocking operation of the motor'bar in those zones of the platen which are identified with work pieces retained for a second, or subsequent operations. To this end, means are provided to disable the motor bar blocking action of the lock lever H5 in those positions of the carriage which are identified with the last-mentioned work pieces.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, the rail 8 is provided with a cam 26 co-extensive with the width of the workpiece which remains in the machine.

A pin' 21, rigid with the frame I, is arranged to act upon the cam 26 to force the rail 8 forwardly as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, to move the' link l6 rearwardly and thus withdraw the looking nose l8 from the path of the lug 2| when the carriage in its return movement reaches the zone in which printing is done upon the work-piece that remains in the machine.

To prevent interference between the type bars 4 and the tie rods 29 and 30 when the latter are in their forward, or paper-receiving position, and

the motor bar blocking means disabled as a consequence of the action of pin 21 on cam 26, that portion of the front feed frame which is coextensive with the cam 6, is offset to clear the type bars when the la ter are elevated for a printing operation.

As shown in Fig. 3, the front feed frame in cludes a bail shaped section 36, the arms of which are secured to the'left hand arm 28 and to the ends of the rods 29 and 30. The arms of the bail are of such length (Fig. 1) as to prevent interference between the bail and the type bars when the latter are in their elevated position.

In operation the front feed frame is moved to 7 the position shownin Fig. 1 and the work pieces intended for a single cross-tabulation are inserted at the right hand section of the platen opposite the paper supporting rods 29 and 30.

The work piece which is utilized in two or more successive cross-tabulations is positioned onthe platen opposite the part 36. At the conclusion of an advancing movement of the carriage the front feed frame is rocked forwardly to paperreleasing position whereupon the work pieces on the right side of the platen may be withdrawn while the carriage is returning to its first columnar or right hand position. While the bars 29 and 30 are returning past the type bars 4, the motor bar will be blocked, but upon arrival of the carriage at the point where the pin 2'! commences to act upon the cam 26, the rail 8 will rock the lever l3 in the counterclockwise direction, thus disabling the motor-bar-blocking lever l6. Hence a printing operation may be performed upon the left-hand work-piece without waiting to restore the front feed'frame to its rear paper-holding position.

It will be understoood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the-invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A machine of the class described, comprising in combination, a laterally movable carriage, a relatively stationary group of printing devices, a platen in said carriage adapted to accommodatea plurality of work pieces in side-by-side relation extending longitudinally of said platen,

, one of said work pieces normally being removed at the completion of an advancing excursion of said carriage, another of said work pieces being retained on said platen for a second excursion of said carriage, front feed means on said carriage movable from, and to, paper-holding position, manipulative means to initiate a printing operation, means actuated as an incident to movement of said front feed means from paper-holding position when said first mentioned work piece is opposite said printing means to block said manipulative means, and means to prevent operation of said last mentioned means when the second of said work pieces is opposite said printing means.

2. A machine of the class'described, comprising in combination, manipulative means arranged to initiate a cycle of operations to effect printing, a laterally movable paper carriage, front feed means associated with said carriage and adapted for movement from a paper-holding position to a paper-releasing position in which latter position the said front feed means nor- .mally tends to interfere with a printing operation, means actuated as an incident to movement of said front feed means from paper-holding to paper-releasing position to block said manipulative means and means actuated as an incident to the lateral movement of said carriage to render said blockingmeans ineffective.

'3. A machine of the class described, comprising in combination, a laterally movable paper carriage, a relatively stationary group of printing devices, a platen in said carriage adapted to accommodate a work piece to be removed at the conclusion of asingle working excursion of the carriage and a second work piece to be retained on said platen for a second excursion of said carriage, front feed means on said carriage,

said front feed means being movable from paper holding to paper-releasing position and includpositioned to print on the first mentioned workpiece and means to disable said blocking means when the front feed means is in paper-releas- 15 ing position and the carriage positioned to print upon said second mentioned work piece.

4. The combination with a frame and paper carriage, of manipulative means to initiate a cycle of operations to perform printing, front 20 feed means for the carriage adapted for movement from a paper-holding position to a paperreleasing position at each successive excursion of the carriage, means actuated by movement of said front feed means to paper-releasing posi- 25 tion to block said manipulative'means and means operated by the lateral movement of said carriage .to render ineffective said blocking means.

5. The combination with a frame, a paper carriage, and printing means, of a manipulative ele- 30 ment to initiate a cycle of operations to perform printing, front feed means for the carriage arranged for movement from a paper-holding position to a paper-releasing position, at the end of each working excursion of the carriage, said 35 means including an offset section to avoid interference between the printing and front feed means when the latter is in paper-releasing position, means automatically actuated by the carriage to disable said manipulative means when said front feed means is moved to paper-releasing position,

and means for rendering ineffective said manipulative member disabling means when the offset portion of the front feed means is aligned with said printing means.

6. A machine of the class described, comprising in combination a laterally movable carriage, a platen in said carriage, front feed means movable to and from paper-holding and paper-releasing positions, printing means, manipulative 50 means to initiate a printing operation, means actuated by said front feed means to prevent operation of said manipulative means, and means actuated by travel of the carriage to disable said preventing means.

'7. A machine of the class described, comprising in combination, a laterally movable carriage, a

platen in said carriage, front feed means movable to and from paper-holding and paper-receiving positions, printing means, manipulative means to initiate a printing operation, means enabled by said front feed means to disable said manipulative means in one position of the carriage when the front feed means is moved to paper-receiving position, and means to re-enable said manipulative means while the front feed means remains in paper-releasing position, as an incident to movement of the carriage to a different position.

8. In a bookkeeping machine, a laterally movable earriage, paper-holding means movable into and out of paper-holding position, printing means, manipulative means to initiate a printing operation, means actuated upon movement of the paper-holding means out of paper-holding position to prevent operation of the manipulative means, and means actuated by lateral movement of the carriage to disable said preventing means.

9. In a bookkeeping machine, a laterally movable carriage having a platen and cooperating means to hold a ledger sheet and a tally tape side by side, said platen and cooperating means being movable relatively to each other to receive and hold the ledger'sheet, printing means, means to prevent operation of the printing means while the carriage presents the ledger sheet opposite the printing means and the platen and cooperating means are in receiving relation to each other, and means to disable the preventing means while the'carriage presents the tally tape opposite the printing means.

10. In a bookkeeping machine, a laterally movable carriage, paper holding means movable into and out of paper holding position, printing means, manipulative means to initiate a printing operation, means actuated upon movement of the paper holding means out of paper holding position to prevent operation of the manipulative means, and means, actuated while the paper holding means is out of paper holding position, to disable said preventing means.

11. In a bookkeeping machine, a laterally movable carriage, paper holding means movable into and out of paper holding position, printing means, manipulative means to initiate a printing operation, means actuated upon movement of the paper holding means out of paper holding position to prevent operation of the manipulative means, and means, actuated under control of the carriage and while the paper holding means is out of paper holding position, to disable said preventing means.

OSCAR JOSEPH SUNDSTRAND. 

